Reading time is the small number under a blog title: “5 min read”. It helps readers decide whether to start, and it helps writers check that a piece matches the slot it is meant for. The same arithmetic works for speeches, video scripts, podcast scripts and presentations, and that is what this calculator does.
Paste your text. The tool counts the words and divides by a speed, giving reading time, speaking time, a fast skim, and, for fun, how long it would take to write out by hand.
Where the speeds come from
The default reading speed is 200 words a minute, a cautious figure. Studies of adults reading non-fiction silently put the average somewhat higher, in the region of 230 to 240 words a minute, and fiction a little faster. Technical writing, unfamiliar subjects and reading on a small screen all slow people down, which is why many publishers stick with 200. You can type your own speed into the box; use 250 for a general audience reading light material, and 150 or lower for dense, technical or non-native readers.
Speaking is slower than reading. A comfortable pace for a talk is around 130 words a minute, and it is common for people to speak between 120 and 150. Presenters who talk fast sometimes hit 170, but listeners tire. The default of 130 builds in breathing and pauses. If you want a speech to run five minutes, you need about 650 words; for ten minutes, 1,300.
Skimming at 400 words a minute is a rough figure for someone scanning headlines and first lines. The handwriting figure, 25 words a minute, is a rough one too, and is only there for curiosity or for planning something like an exam answer.
Using it well
For articles, round to the nearest minute and do not agonise over precision. For scripts, read your text aloud once with a timer and compare, then change the speaking speed in the tool to match your own pace; after that the calculator will be accurate for your voice.
Pictures, tables, code blocks and pauses are not words, so a page with a lot of them takes longer than the figure suggests. If your text has headings and images, add a minute or so.
What to read next
Reading time says how long something takes, not how hard it is. The readability checker scores difficulty, and the word counter gives you the full set of counts, including sentences and paragraphs. If you are writing to a target length, our article on how many words you should write has typical ranges for essays, posts and emails, and the character limit checker helps when the target is a platform rather than a time.